While training for a marathon I was almost completely sidelined by a sharp pain on the side of my right knee. The knee pain also had a partner in crime. My right hip was tightening up and hurting during my runs as well. I was constantly attempting to remedy the situation that ranged from massaging my hip to right down punching it with my fist while running (which must have looked hysterical to the onlookers). Resting didn’t help, slowing down didn’t help. As a matter of fact nothing was helping.
So I began to research the IT band issues online and seeking advice from fellow runners. What I found was that everywhere I looked, it seemed to steer you to the weakness in hips or glutes. Numerous videos and sites offered strength training and foam rolling techniques. I also enlisted the help of my physical therapist to remedy the pain while I searched for answers as to why this happened in the first place.
I wasn’t convinced by the hip/glute weakness since I work all those muscles religiously but there seemed to be no other explanation. While my physical therapist continued to rehab my IT band I attempted to do some light running only to be disappointed that the pain would return. My physical therapist told me I’m turning my right foot out too much and that could be contributing to the problem. But why in the world would I be doing that! I got really concerned at that point because I love to run and not being able to would be devastating. I went to see an old friend who happens to be a doctor. He’s an elderly man who’s run many marathons in his life so I figured he could shed some light. He inspected my leg, listened to my sob … err training schedule details and then he asked a very simple question. “Do you always run in the same direction?” As a matter fact that’s exactly what I did. I always ran counter clockwise. At first I reacted with some disbelief that this would even matter but then I decided to think about it.
On my following run, however, I forgot all about what the good doctor said and went about my usual route. Then I saw something. The road was slanted ! And the guy who ran in front of me was also turning his right foot out. It was the biggest aha moment in my life. I got it! The right side of the road was higher than the left causing my right leg to compensate by turning my foot and compressing my hip. Oh boy! I felt like Detective Columbo! But one more question… Will it change if I turned the other way? There was only one way to find out. I turned around immediately and went in the clockwise direction. And viola! Immediate pain relief! Holy cow! I was so happy I must’ve looked crazy! I still needed to continue to undo remaining damage to my leg so I’ve added a massage therapist to my team of specialists. He was wonderful. I was back on the road doing 8 miles like used to. Lesson learned. Two weeks later I ran my first marathon in a Boston qualifying time of 3:44.